Title: Embraceable You
Author:
sail_aweigh/
sail_aweighPairing: Kirk/McCoy
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2750
Summary: for the
jim_and_bones Sweethearts Challenge. Prompt #44 - BAD BOY. Valentine's Day party at the Academy. Bones is sick of Jim overlooking him in favour of sexy young things, and decides to dress up like a seriously hot bad boy to get his attention. From Bones' POV. The Jim POV is by
sangueuk,
Blue Valentine.
Author's notes: Many thanks to
maypirate for helping me over the rough spots and keeping my tenses straight.
oOoOoO
Leonard held the pants up in front of him, turning them from side to side. He looked over at the woman by his side, his face drawn into a rictus of distaste. "They shine. My ass will be a beacon in the dark in these things."
Christine looked over her shoulder at said backside. "Leonard, your ass is a beacon whether it's covered in polyester or in calf-skin. Ask around SF Medical sometime, just how often it’s the topic of conversation. We are deploying tactics here. Embrace your decadent side and you might get Jim to embrace you." She plucked the pants out of his hands and laid them over her arm with the two other pair of pants they'd already picked out.
"You need a shirt, something tight. And low cut. Or see-through, maybe." Leonard watched as Christine wandered over to a rack of mesh shirts that looked like they would make good seine nets. He kept his mouth shut until he saw the one she picked out.
"Oh, hell, no. It fucking sparkles, Christine." He looked over at a rack to his right and made a dive at a shirt he considered suitable. Leonard held it up for her. "How about this?"
He heard Christine give a put upon sigh. "Do you want to wear full plate armor to ward him off with? May as well, if you wear that shirt." She took the long sleeve turtleneck and hung it back up on the rack it had come off.
"Look. Jim is very touchy-feely. You've got to lure him in with pattern, color, texture. He's like a bumblebee, he's going to head for the flower that looks like it holds the most nectar."
She walked over to a rack of sleeveless tanks and plucked up two or three in bright colors. "What size do you wear-large?"
"Extra large, I don't like them too tight and the sleeves are too short on larges," Leonard admitted.
"Large it is, then." Leonard stood outwardly compliant while Christine proceeded to dump the pants and shirts in his arms and turning him around, gave him a push towards the dressing rooms. "Go. Model for me."
Leonard scowled at her, "I'm a doctor, not a fashion model." He attempted to stare her down, but she just crossed her arms and glared back at him. Finally, with a huff, he trudged off to the dressing room.
Five minutes later, he contemplated himself in the mirror. And debated contemplating another five minutes or more. He considered taking everything off, but knew there would be consequences if he did. Christine was the head nurse at SF Medical; she had power. His rotation schedule could get totally screwed. Leonard knew he'd waited too long when he heard her voice through the door.
"Leonard." He considered climbing over the wall to the dressing room on the other side to escape, but that would leave his street clothes hostage to his tormentor. "Leonard, I'm coming in."
The door opened.
oOoOoO
Clothes shopping with Christine was the seventh circle of Hell. Definitely, no one would say some of this stuff was comfortable to wear, but it did compliment his ass and highlighted his chest musculature. As he took in the completed picture in the mirror, Leonard thought that if this worked, though, it would be worth it.
oOoOoO
Leonard drew in a deep breath, tugged the points of his collar up, adjusted the leather cuffs on his wrists, drew his shoulders back and walked through the door.
The room was decorated about the way he expected it to be: pink and red streamers hanging from the corners and ceiling; clumps of pink, white and red balloons dotting the tables; a disco ball hanging from the middle of the ceiling; and hundreds of cadets dressed in cotton candy colors. It looked to him like a Sweethearts candy factory had vomited all over the room. He stood there indecisively, when he felt a hard shove between his shoulders bump him forward a step.
"Hey!" Leonard turned his head over his shoulder to see Christine smirking at him. "I'm going, see? This is me…going back to my room." He turned around to leave, but before he could take a step in the opposite direction Christine latched onto his arm and pulled him back around.
"Come on. Faint heart never won fair…whatever." Christine waved her hand in the direction of the dance floor. It was a depressing sight. Cadets were paired off, sometimes in groups of three and four where the species genders didn't necessarily align with human genders. Leonard supposed it was all very romantic, really.
And then there was the mosh pit surrounding one James T. Kirk: men, women, Andorians, Orions, species he couldn't immediately categorize in the dim light and distraction of confetti floating on the air. Leonard watched as Jim was hefted onto a sea of hands and then passed overhead from person to person, hands and varied appendages taking liberties with his body that he in no way seemed to resent or object to.
His shoulders slumped and he waved a hand in that direction. "Look at him, Christine. Why would he want me when he has that?"
Christine patted his forearm next to where she held him with the other. "Leonard. You're thinking about this the wrong way. Why wouldn't he want you? Smart, ambitious, dedicated and dead sexy. Let's show him just how much."
The next thing Leonard knew, he was being dragged out onto the dance floor, Christine's derriere wriggling in front of him. She grabbed his arms and wrapped them around her waist and commenced grinding that pert behind into his groin. He tried to hold himself stiffly away from her, but she pulled his arms in tighter and hissed at him over her shoulder.
"Try to look like you're having fun, dammit. I'm a good-looking woman, act like you're enjoying having me in your arms."
Leonard forced himself to relax and allowed his shoulders to curve over her back, bringing his head down on the top of hers. He rubbed his cheek along the side of her face, turning his mouth into her ear.
"Like this?" He nibbled on her earlobe a little and she jolted at the touch.
"Eeep! Yes. Yes, exactly like that." She leaned her head back against his chest and smiled at him. Leonard was tempted to kiss her, but didn't feel comfortable carrying the deception that far. He wanted Jim to pay attention, but he didn't want to make it seem like he was already taken.
Smiling back at her, he spun her in his arms and slotted one of her legs between his and pulled her close into him by her hips.
"Now you're getting it!" Christine draped her arms over his shoulders and moving in close took that position as an opportunity to start listing people on the dance floor that he should ask to dance.
oOoOo
Leonard ground back into the body behind him, while he ran his hands up and down the sleek flanks of the girl in front of him. He’d never met either one of his current partners before; hadn’t met over half of any of the earlier ones, either. Christine had pushed him at his first two or three dance partners, people they knew from the medical track, but once he started really getting down and dirty with them, he no longer had to do the asking. People were flocking to him. He didn’t fully understand it, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this got him what he wanted, he’d shake his ass and get handsy with his partners all night long even if there was only one person he really wanted to get this close to.
And he honestly had to admit, he was having fun. He hadn’t cut loose like this since his undergrad days at Ole Miss. He and Jocelyn used to hit the clubs on weekends, where they’d dance until they were soaked in sweat and so horny they barely made it back to one of their rooms to tear each other’s clothes off. And while many of his partners were incredibly good-looking, there hadn’t been a one so far who had gotten him beyond just a minor twitch of interest. The body could be persuaded, but his heart and mind were holding out for that one stupid, oblivious best friend.
The current song ended with a flourish of horns and Leonard felt a hand pat his behind before trailing off. Leonard threw a quick smile over his shoulder at the young man behind him as he wandered away, before turning back to the young lady in front to thank her for the dance.
“Would you like to get something to drink with me?” She smiled at him and tipped her head toward the refreshment table.
He was silent for a moment, debating on how blunt to be with her. Oh, hell, when wasn’t he blunt? “I wouldn’t mind that, but not if it’s a pretext for getting me to ask you out. I’m here to be seen, I’m really not out cruising for action. I’m Len, by the way.” He held out a hand and she clasped it lightly.
“I’m Leticia.” She pouted for a second, but then smiled at him sympathetically. “Ohhh, bad break-up? Showing the ex you can live without her?”
Leonard directed her over to the refreshment table with a wave of one hand and the other in the small of her back. “That would be a huge waste of time, especially since she’s in Georgia and I’m here. No, trying to show someone who doesn’t seem to know I exist that I do.”
“Well, I’d be surprised if she didn’t notice you, tonight! You really know how to get down and dirty.” Her grin invited him to mirror her enjoyment at his dancing and he did, dimples slashing his cheeks.
Stopping at the refreshment table, Leonard let his hand drop from Leticia’s back. “Thank you, darlin’. I like to think there’s still some action left in these old bones.”
Leticia poured two glasses of punch and handed one to Leonard.
“I don’t understand why you don’t just ask her out, Len? You don’t strike me as the shy type.” Leticia sipped at her glass of punch, leaning against the table.
Turning his glass of punch in his hands, Leonard tried to find the best way to explain Jim Kirk to her. “No, I’m not shy and I’d ask him out, but he’s my best friend. A best friend who doesn’t seem to see me as anything other than a scruffy, sarcastic wingman. The first time we met I threw up on him. It doesn’t really lead to romantic thoughts; how could he find me attractive after that?” He set the glass down on the table and scrubbed his hands through the gelled up spikes in his hair, leaving the peaks even more disheveled than before. Shaking his head in disgust, Leonard looked back over at Leticia to see her smiling at someone over his shoulder. Oh, great, now he’d turned into a whiny sixteen-year-old and even girls he was not interested in found him boring.
“I’m being an ass, Leticia. You go on and find some of your friends, I’m just an old curmudgeon who’s--” Leonard broke off, affronted, when Leticia started to outright laugh.
She put her hand up in front of her mouth to cover the giggles. “I’m sorry, Len. What did you say your friend’s name was?”
“I didn’t, but it’s Jim, if you must know. How is that relevant?” Leonard stood there with his hands on his hips and glared at her while he watched her mouth, “Jim?” silently and point at something over his left shoulder.
“And is he about your height, with blond hair and very vivid blue eyes?” She moved her hand so the index finger was now pointing down and twirled it. He stared at her, a sense of dread cementing his feet to the floor. Exasperated, Leticia grabbed him by the upper arms and started to turn him. He resisted for a moment longer, before he heard someone behind him clearing their throat and a few titters from the surrounding crowd. He was really starting to regret letting Christine talk him into this whole “bad boy make-over” charade and he was ready to crawl into his bottle of Woodford Reserve back in his quarters as soon as he could escape this harpy’s clutches. Since when did a not date turn into public humiliation?
His eyes bugged out a little at what he saw when he finished turning. It appeared that, when it came to him, public humiliation always came accompanied with a side order of Jim Kirk.
oOoOo
Leonard only had a couple of seconds to gawk at his best friend sitting on a silver platter on the edge of the table with a red rose in his mouth before he found his hand engulfed in one of Jim’s and then he was giving Leticia a quick salute with the other as he was dragged off the dance floor. There was a light smattering of applause and a few whistles from the surrounding crowd which made him duck his head to hide the pink in his cheeks. At least there were no bodily fluids involved this time.
oOoOo
“Did you have to do that, Jim? And would you slow down, this isn’t a race; I’m not going anywhere you aren’t going, too.” Leonard tugged at the broad hand that was pulling him down the path toward the dorms.
Jim’s pace slackened until they were walking side-by-side and their arms were twined together.
“Yeah, Bones, I did have to do that. You should never doubt yourself like that again, man.”
“I...I just have a hard time believing you’d be interested in me, kid. Not when there’s so many smart, sexy, cute, young things from you to choose from.” Leonard looked at Jim, lingering uncertainty lending a pinched look to his eyes.
Jim stopped them on the path, looked around the quad quickly and then pulled Leonard into a dark space created by a large tree planted up close to the side of the building they were passing. He backed Leonard up against the wall with his arms on either side of his shoulders.
“Bones, listen up. One--you are hella smart. You’ve already got two degrees and you’ve won awards for your research. There are few to compete with you there. Two--have you seen yourself? Those pants? And the cuffs and the hair? Jeezes jumpin’ disco stick, I’ve been wanting to unwrap you all night long and couldn’t get near you! There was a wall of beings around you. Three--you’re only as young as you feel and I’ll be very happy to make you feel as young as I can. Besides which, I saw some of those moves you were making; you are not ready for a walker yet, dude, so can it.” While saying all that, Jim punctuated each point with a brief press of his lips against Leonard’s that had him grinning by the time the list was done.
“Okay, okay, I believe you. I still think you didn’t need to make such a spectacle of yourself and by extension, me,” he groused.
“The crowd loved it. If there had been an award for the most creative way to stake one’s claim, I would have won it,” Jim boasted.
“You win the booby prize is what you win, Jim.” His words didn’t stop Leonard from brushing his hands down Jim’s sides to cup his ass in the threadworn jeans he had on. Those jeans that Bones had never thought he’d have his chance at peeling off of Jim.
Jim’s eyes twinkled at him. “Didn’t I tell you to quit putting yourself down? C’mon. I think I need to give you a refresher course in human anatomy, that’s not my boobies that you have your hands all over.”
Leonard rolled his eyes, but gave no protest when Jim once more hauled him down the path by one hand.
oOoOo
The high five from Christine the next morning was only to be expected; the low one on the left cheek of his ass wasn’t. The only thing it provoked, though, was a wide, wide smile that had his head nurse laughing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~fin~~~~~~~~~~~~~~